Capital Punishment

Capital Punishment and Deterrence

Abstract

Capitol Punishment has been around since the beginning of mankind; eye for an eye and

tooth for a tooth. Since then the public have debated for or against capital punishment

revolving around issues of deterrence, retribution, discrimination and Irreversibility.

Leaving us with the responsibility to analyze the factors surrounding capital punishment.

A number of studies have also been done specifically on the deterrent effects of capital

punishment. Many officials believes that capital punishment not only prevent s the

offender from committing additional crimes but deters others as well. The research of

Franklin E. Zimring and Gordon J. Hawkins demonstrated that punishment is an effective

deterrent for those who are criminally inclined. Another research has been to examine

murder rates in given areas both before and after an execution. Clear and cole(2000) have

examined more than 200 studies evaluating the effectiveness of the death penalty in

deterring crime. A recent study found that a significant deterrent effect is associated with

the increased use of capital punishment since 1977 ( Dezhbakhsh, Rubin and Shepherd,

2001).

Michael Radelet and Ronald   Akers   attempted to determine if having the   Death Penalty

indeed act as a deterrent on criminal homicide. Is the theory of "Just Deserts" (Bedau,

1978; Finckenenauer, 1998) in anyway credible? It is also often argued that death is what

murderers deserve, making criminals reap what they sow. Most believe that in order to

assure deserts, the punishment should always   fit the crime.   It would require us to rape

rapists, torture torturers, and inflict other horrible and degrading punishment   on

offenders. It would require us to betray traitors and kill multiple murderers again and

again, punishments impossible to inflict. ( Bedau 1978).  

However the principle of just deserts is... [continues]

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